Fond Memories of Western Blot Film

Posted on September 17, 2014

Back in the day (the good ‘ole 1990’s), things used to be so simple. When you wanted to develop your Western blot you would soak it in some chemiluminescent substrate then head to the dark room for some quality time by yourself with your Western blot film. What could be better? The dark room was great.

I fondly remember:

Sniffing in the toxic chemical fumes

Desperately trying to get the right exposure using sheet after sheet of film

Running in and out of the room to either catch the film that came out the other side or to hold the film up to the light while squinting to make out bands

The awkward silence when you had to share the dark room with someone, or >gulp< bumped into someone in the dark

Fumbling in the dark for timers, cassettes, film and the developer itself

Frantically trying to put the cover back on the box of film when you realize you didn’t close it before you turned the light on

Cutting up film to save money knowing that you might be risking the film never coming out of the developer

The anguish when you go to expose your blot and realize the developer is broken

Saying “beam me up, Scotty” every time you went into the dark room that had the nifty revolving door

A one minute exposure being the longest minute of my life

Fist-fights between the person that signed up for the developer and the one that just “popped in” (didn’t actually happen to me)

Red light

Film with pre-exposed edges (see #6)

Trying to figure out the difference between blue film and gray film – can you use both sides?

It’s a shame that digital imaging might take all of this away. Don’t you agree?